Rural women marching out for land

Author: Janis Kinnear

The Long March campaign, spearheaded by the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA), gathered close to 500 women from across the country, dressed in black and green T-shirts emblazoned with the words, “Women, guardians of seed, life and earth”. They formed a circle on a field in Keizersgracht Street and loudly chanted: “We want land now!”

The campaign launch marked Human Rights Day on Saturday. Its supporters marched to the Western Cape provincial legislature offices to hand over a memorandum with their demands for more land rights and access to other productive resources to address food security.

The RWA campaign will culminate in a mass march in Pretoria in August, in celebration of national women’s month.